Since a coup in March, any semblance of law and order in the Central African Republic has vanished. The state has ceased to exist. As rebels-turned-bandits, mostly Muslim, battle Christian self-defence units, violence is spiraling out of control. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. As world powers finally begin to intervene, IRIN presents a detailed, analytical picture of events in a country on the
brink of catastrophe.

BANGUI, 12 February 2014 (IRIN) - On 10 February, Gen Francisco Soriano, commander of Sangaris, the French peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), condemned the anti-balaka militia as the main enemy of peace in the country, and vowed that the mission would concentrate its efforts against them. His statement came just before Amnesty International charged international peacekeepers with having failed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Muslim civilians in western CAR.
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